PINELLAS PARK — Executives like to say there’s no bigger asset at their company than their people. Jerger Family Cos. and its subsidiaries, Modern USA Insurance Co. and American Traditions Insurance Co., make a point of proving that.

Writing insurance policies has been a Jerger family affair since 1962 when Richard Jerger Sr. sold his first mobile homeowners package policy. Subsequent corporate history provides a look at how people and ideas can outlast companies.

Thomas Jerger, one of Richard’s sons, now runs the family business with his son T. John Jerger by his side. From a building the Jergers constructed, the primary focus remains mobile homeowners with nearly 40,000 policies between Modern USA and American Traditions.

Although Florida hasn’t been threatened with a catastrophic storm in several years, the insurance business still remains rattled, especially for homegrown companies looking to compete with national entities. The Jerger’s former insurance group not only paid all claims accrued after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 but was able to pay out another $41 million for the so-called “unnamed storms” the year after — something even larger carriers couldn’t do, pushing them out of Florida.

Full circle

The ability to pay out tens of millions of dollars over two years of highly destructive storms in the early 1990s was a result of long-term planning and making sure the right reinsurance was in place.

Although the Jergers have made good bets when it comes to insurance, Thomas Jerger admits he might not have the same acumen when it comes to business transactions, especially when he sold the family company in the late 1990s.

“I just thought we were going to get some more capital,” he said. “I didn’t take M&A 101 in college and didn’t realize that the first thing they were going to do was get rid of me.”

Over a short period of time, the entire family and many of its longtime employees left the company. T. John Jerger started an information technology company in 2000 that helped insurance companies manage policies, growing it into a $12 million company by its second year.

That backroom processing company was later morphed into a new insurance company his father, Thomas, had started, which quickly began to resemble the original family company that was sold a few years before. Even many of the employees who worked with them in the 1990s had come back.

Thanks to a program in 2007 where state dollars were used by private investors to help kickstart new businesses, Modern USA was born, and the Jergers were back in business.

Before long, the old company under its new ownership was overextended and left Florida, allowing the Jergers to buy back the building they had constructed, bringing them full circle.

“The management team that we had, the middle men and the higher-up managers we have now, all of these people worked with us back then” with the old company, Thomas Jerger said.

“We believe in family history, and we believe in a strong family presence,” T. John Jerger said. “This has been the most exciting part for us, to bring some of those former team members and employees back with us, and keeping our overall corporate family intact.”

Keeping employees happy

In a small business with just a few people, making everyone feel like family is quite easy. But when employee numbers stretch into the hundreds, it becomes very difficult.

Keeping up morale and making employees feel they are part of the entire operation is even more important the larger a company gets, something CEO Alex Eckelberry has spent a lot of time on.

“Morale doesn’t come from handing out treats or little trinkets to your people. Instead, it comes from an employee feeling like they understand their job, they know their place in the organization and they are working for a bigger idea,” said Eckelberry, whose 250-employee Sunbelt Software Inc. was a finalist for the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 2010 Best Places to Work.

It was bought by GFI Software on July 13.

Even with an open door, approaching a manager can be intimidating, so he instead makes time to approach his employees.

“Fundamentally, it comes down to a happy employee is a productive employee,” he said. “And that’s the only way you’re going to succeed.”